People Choose to Rent Rather Than Buy

The mortgage provider Castle Trust has released figures which suggest that there has been a drastic increase in the number of people renting as opposed to taking out a mortgage.

In 2012, the number of renters in the private sector reached 3.8 million, which is an increase of 23% on the 3.1 million figure for 2008.

This is despite the average cost of renting a property having increased substantially in the past five years. The difference between total rental costs in 2012 and 2008 is estimated to stand at around £7.7 billion.

Sean Oldfield, chief executive officer of Castle Trust, said more people are choosing to rent as “mortgage payments still represent a significant proportion of a household’s monthly spending, with many people still not seeing the viability of owning a home”.

The risk of mortgage rates rising is also believed to attract people to the private rental sector.